The Sixth Sunday of Easter (A), May 17, 2020—Acts 17:22–31 and John 14:15–21

 Lectionary Poems, Year A: Surprising Grace for Pulpit and Pew

Remember that you can get these poems, plus all the poems for Year A, complete with both a scripture index (including texts sometimes referred to in a poem which aren't in the lectionary) and a title index, in my book published by Wipf and Stock. There are three ways to order:

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or https://wipfandstock.com/lectionary-poems-year-a.html

or—best deal!—from me for a signed copy, and perhaps inscribed to a giftee, for only $14 total (mailing and tax included). E-mail me, scott.l.barton@gmail.com.

François de Nomé: St. Paul Preaching to the Athenians (ca. 1620–1624)

Walters Art Museum, Baltimore

Acts 17:22–31

Oh, What a Politician!

Oh, what a politician,

Is Paul among the Greeks!

He says they are religious,

Who e'en unknown gods seek;

And then with news he hits them:

The God who made all things

Lives not in what's made by us—

Our wealth, our fame, our bling—

But we, in fact (per poets

They knew) are God's offspring!

Which means the highest value

Of which we all can sing,

Is Love, like of a parent,

Defines our life and death;

Thus, Jesus be our policy

With every daily breath.

Scott L. Barton

Then Paul stood in front of the Areopagus and said, “Athenians, I see how extremely religious you are in every way. For as I went through the city and looked carefully at the objects of your worship, I found among them an altar with the inscription, ‘To an unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. The God who made the world and everything in it, he who is Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by human hands, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mortals life and breath and all things. From one ancestor he made all nations to inhabit the whole earth, and he allotted the times of their existence and the boundaries of the places where they would live, so that they would search for God and perhaps grope for him and find him—though indeed he is not far from each one of us. For ‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we too are his offspring.’ Since we are God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the deity is like gold, or silver, or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of mortals. While God has overlooked the times of human ignorance, now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will have the world judged in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed, and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”

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John 14:15–21

The link below is to a performance of Thomas Tallis' "If Ye Love Me," 

with John Rutter and the Cambridge Singers. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6RgaPTo4hE

If You Love Me

"If you love me,

keep my commandments,

And I will pray the Father,

And he will give you

another Comforter."

"You're not alone,

When you keep my words,

(He says that it's forever!)

You sure have it made,

Since the Spirit's with you."

"Because I live,

You will live also

(How many times I've said that!)

Father, Son, Spirit—

Enough love all around!"

Scott L. Barton

(The poem's meter is a bit unusual: 4/5/7/5/6.  Jesus' opening words pretty much determined it.  Maybe his words determining things is how it should be all the time for us!)

"If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you.

”I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you. In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live. On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me; and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them.”